GUMC Update

Federoff Meets with Local Physicians

April 20, 2009

Shared shop talk, good food and an easy collegiality marked a recent gathering hosted by Executive Vice President Howard Federoff, MD, PhD, of about 40 leading local physicians on April 14.

For many of the doctors, it was their first in-depth conversation with Federoff, who took the helm just over two years ago.

The evening was the first in a series of public outreach steps Federoff says he plans to better engage the District of Columbia’s medical – and hometown – communities, whether in small or large groups, at various events, or one-on-one.

Federoff took the opportunity to engage the physicians, who represented a wide-array of specialties, about his vision for GUMC.

“It’s nice for a new executive vice president to meet members of the Georgetown medical community,” said Luis E. Sanz, MD (M’76, R79), chief of Urogynecology and Pelvic Surgery at Virginia Hospital Center and professor at GU’s School of Medicine.

First Federoff, and later, Stephen Ray Mitchell, MD, dean for medical education, addressed the physicians, who are leaders and opinion-makers in prominent practices, medical businesses, and various hospitals in the metropolitan area. Federoff and Mitchell were introduced by clinical faculty member Alexander C. Chester III, MD (C’69, W’78).

Layered, nuanced perspectives on a new scientific order, potential successes, and an articulation of ethical challenges emerged as Federoff detailed his vision of systems medicine and how it will impact science and medicine. Federoff is working to align GUMC programs in a strategic way with this approach to clinical care, scientific research and medical education.

The confluence of a greater knowledge of genetics and the environment, patients’ increased responsibility for wellness in terms of their lifestyle choices, and extraordinary supercomputing capabilities will result in “wellcare,” medicine that is prevention-driven and individually administered but on a broad, shared base of ultra-deep data.

“Inherited vulnerabilities juxtapositioned with environmental modulation, some quite discrete…” is “the richest nexus of biology that will influence medicine,” Federoff told the group.

Armed with such knowledge, physicians of the future may be able to “prevent emergence of symptoms or blunt them,” he said. “We can move from the management of malady to the prevention or delay of disease. The levers you can manipulate to your patient’s advantage will continue to grow.”

Mitchell mentioned changes in curricula reflecting the systems medicine approach which already are underway, as well as a Master’s degree in Systems Medicine.

During a question and answer period, the physician guests offered comments and questions. Rondi Walker, MD (R’ 90), expressed a concern echoed by many of the physicians and one that GUMC seems well-positioned to address given its strengths in bioethics: How can patients’ privacy be secured in light of the unprecedented sensitivity and amount of patient data that will emerge from genetic studies?

“An absolute firewall,” Federoff replied of the importance of protecting patients’ personal data, adding that bioethics is “a core feature” of the systems medicine approach and that the ethical issues are “myriad” and difficult to solve. He pointed to the expertise of GUMC’s Kevin Fitzgerald, SJ, PhD, a molecular geneticist and Jesuit priest who is working on these important issues with colleagues.

By Victoria Churchville, GUMC Advancement

In the photo (from left to right), Louis Sanz (M 76, R 79), Lester Marion (R 75) and Daniel Esposito (M 73, R 74)

Submit your news at any time to the GUMC Office of Communications at gumccomm@georgetown.edu.

Copyright Georgetown University Medical Center 2007

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